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Oct 8, 2013
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our debt ceiling is now 14.3 trillion dollars. it will need to be raised in the coming year. >> that guy didn't have to be particularly bright. he just had to know what the dealt ceiling is. it was a completely non-controversial invisible element of our government. the staff of the senate finance committee where we actually had to write debt ceiling increass s into law. john boehner cannot be allowed to pretend that the madness that he is allowing to run rampant is something that every president in modern history has had to contend with. >> every president in modern history has negotiated over a debt limit. debt limits have been used to force big policy changes. >> there is exactly one speaker in modern history who has seriously tried. by exactly one speaker of the house and that speaker of the house is not speaking the truth. here once begin. >> this is something routine. it has been done more than 40 times since ronald reagan is president. it has never before been used in the kind of ways that the republicans are talking about u
our debt ceiling is now 14.3 trillion dollars. it will need to be raised in the coming year. >> that guy didn't have to be particularly bright. he just had to know what the dealt ceiling is. it was a completely non-controversial invisible element of our government. the staff of the senate finance committee where we actually had to write debt ceiling increass s into law. john boehner cannot be allowed to pretend that the madness that he is allowing to run rampant is something that every...
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Oct 1, 2013
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and if that wasn't enough, the next battle over the $16 trillion debt ceiling is right around the corner. good morning, i'm betty nguyen. no deal. the government is shut down for the first time in 17 years. it's being called an unnecessary blow to the american people. we'll tell you what it means for you. first the clock hit midnight with democrats and republicans still pitted against each other. and the firestorm, well, it is hotter than ever. nbc's tracie potts has the latest overnight. >> reporter: starting this morning national parks are closed. political trials on hold. social security payments possibly delayed. food inspections scaled back. and many head start preschools shut down. lawmakers left capitol hill early this morning thoroughly frustrated. >> this is ridiculous. >> we are back to square one. >> john boehner named eight people to negotiate a plan to re-open the government. >> i would hope that the senate would accept our offer to discuss this so we can resolve this with the american people. >> reporter: president obama had a midnight message for u.s. troops. they'll get p
and if that wasn't enough, the next battle over the $16 trillion debt ceiling is right around the corner. good morning, i'm betty nguyen. no deal. the government is shut down for the first time in 17 years. it's being called an unnecessary blow to the american people. we'll tell you what it means for you. first the clock hit midnight with democrats and republicans still pitted against each other. and the firestorm, well, it is hotter than ever. nbc's tracie potts has the latest overnight....
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Jan 19, 2013
01/13
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many of us on the democratic side voted for $1.2 trillion in spending cuts and got a debt ceiling increase. president obama made it very clear we are not negotiating over the debt ceiling again because we have to pay our bills. we have to give certainty to our economy and we have to focus on deficit reduction in a balanced way so we can protect the middle class and working families. >> doesn't this give the progressive movement an opportunity in the next 90 days to really send the message to congress, leave the big three alone? get your money somewhere else? it would seem to me that the republicans are going to go after that in the next 90 days, make the case that the entitlements are really the problem in all of this. this campaign is going to continue on. >> it will, absolutely, continue on. i think we have to acknowledge that medicare and medicaid is a contributor, significant contributor to our deficit. and there are savings that we can squeeze out. we've already added eight years of solvency into medicare through the affordable health care act we were able to get. in his $4 trillion b
many of us on the democratic side voted for $1.2 trillion in spending cuts and got a debt ceiling increase. president obama made it very clear we are not negotiating over the debt ceiling again because we have to pay our bills. we have to give certainty to our economy and we have to focus on deficit reduction in a balanced way so we can protect the middle class and working families. >> doesn't this give the progressive movement an opportunity in the next 90 days to really send the message...
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Oct 8, 2013
10/13
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if you want to sound smart tell your friends the united states has $17.6 trillion worth of debt. of that, 10 billion is owed to foreign governments. all right, let's put the news aside for a minute. let's welcome in lewis. >> thanks very much. let's start with the late nights. john stewart is watching the government shutdown and debt ceiling talks very closely these days. let's say he's not impressed with the rhetoric. >> now it seems that in order to stop obama care the republicans are threatening to refuse to raise the debt ceiling which would technically put the united states in default. technically. it's not really, right guys? >> we bring in 200 $50 billion in taxes every month. our interest payment is $20 billion. tell me why we would ever default. >> there's no such thing as a debt ceiling in this country because it's never been not increased. >> some bills have to be paid or some bills we can only pay partially but that doesn't mean we have to pay every bill the day it comes in. >> what a great strategy. that was my strategy, in college. when i smoked a lot of pot and wor
if you want to sound smart tell your friends the united states has $17.6 trillion worth of debt. of that, 10 billion is owed to foreign governments. all right, let's put the news aside for a minute. let's welcome in lewis. >> thanks very much. let's start with the late nights. john stewart is watching the government shutdown and debt ceiling talks very closely these days. let's say he's not impressed with the rhetoric. >> now it seems that in order to stop obama care the republicans...
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Oct 8, 2013
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you're asking them to take a tough vote for the debt ceiling. usually people in both parties want to have some cover, something they can point to and say -- >> which is fine. >> i want some budget process reform or another trillion dollars in debt. >> which is fine. if they want to do that, reopen the government, extend the debt ceiling. if they can't do it for a long time, do it for the period of time in which these negotiations are taking place. why is it that we've got hundreds and thousands of people who aren't working right now in order for what you just described to occur? it doesn't make any sense. the small business administration gives out a billion dollars worth of loans every month to small businesses all across the country. that is not happening right now. so there are small businesses in every state that are counting on a loan to get their business going and you've got the party of small business saying small business administration can't do it. that's what they call themselves. and yet, they are suffering. you've got farmers who ar
you're asking them to take a tough vote for the debt ceiling. usually people in both parties want to have some cover, something they can point to and say -- >> which is fine. >> i want some budget process reform or another trillion dollars in debt. >> which is fine. if they want to do that, reopen the government, extend the debt ceiling. if they can't do it for a long time, do it for the period of time in which these negotiations are taking place. why is it that we've got...
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Oct 3, 2013
10/13
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let's give credit to a former leader dick gephardt, he had the rule to raise the debt ceiling. i want to go back and stress again, i don't want anybody who voted for the war in iraq, the bush tax cuts, the agricultural subsidies, the bush prescription drug program. they are worth trillions of dollars on the debt. if every republican had voted the way i voted we wouldn't be anywhere near the debt limit we are right now. >> and thank you for your time tonight. all right, coming up. >> the best thing the senate could have done on the first cr, they could have stripped everything out and moved the spending level number higher and say that is what we're going to do. and this is our proposal, and then drop back down later and say we were here, now we're back to here. they haven't been negotiating at all. and so it is like why should we keep negotiating with ourselves? >> the republican congressman seems to think the democrats haven't done that, but they have. they have basically adopted the republican platform of 2012, seriously. i'll explain in just a minute. ♪ [ male announcer ]
let's give credit to a former leader dick gephardt, he had the rule to raise the debt ceiling. i want to go back and stress again, i don't want anybody who voted for the war in iraq, the bush tax cuts, the agricultural subsidies, the bush prescription drug program. they are worth trillions of dollars on the debt. if every republican had voted the way i voted we wouldn't be anywhere near the debt limit we are right now. >> and thank you for your time tonight. all right, coming up. >>...
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Feb 7, 2013
02/13
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here is a chart of the spending cuts the democrats and republicans agreed to during the 2011 debt ceiling disaster, and it is $1.7 trillion in cuts. there is not a dime of new revenue there. here is the chart when you add the $737 billion in new revenue agreed to during the fiscal cliff deal. republicans are winning the battle, wouldn't you say, when it comes to balancing? over two-thirds of deficit reduction has come from cuts to domestic programs, and it's not exactly fair. but now the house progressive caucus has come out with what they call the balancing act. it's a common-sense plan to reduce the deficit by closing tax loopholes and cutting wasteful defense spending. here is the chart of the plan. there is $1.7 trillion in new revenue. the $1.7 trillion in spending cuts is still there. this looks like a much fairer chart than the current system, don't you think? and it's estimated to reduce the deficit by $3.3 trillion. remember, we're trying to hit $4 trillion. so we're getting closer. the plan ends tax loopholes for yachts and for jets. it reduces the corporate meal and entertainme
here is a chart of the spending cuts the democrats and republicans agreed to during the 2011 debt ceiling disaster, and it is $1.7 trillion in cuts. there is not a dime of new revenue there. here is the chart when you add the $737 billion in new revenue agreed to during the fiscal cliff deal. republicans are winning the battle, wouldn't you say, when it comes to balancing? over two-thirds of deficit reduction has come from cuts to domestic programs, and it's not exactly fair. but now the house...
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Oct 8, 2013
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and that's why we're $17 trillion in debt. and i would dispel the rumor that is going around that you hear on every newscast that if we don't raise the debt ceiling, we will default on our debt. we won't. we'll continue to pay our interest. we'll continue to redeem bonds. and we'll issue new bonds to replace those. so that -- it's not entirely accurate. >> what's your reaction to that, congressman? >> well, i think he ought to just get in his car and drive up to the sage of omaha and have a conversation with mr. buffett, who really understands finance and obviously the good doctor doesn't have a clue what national, international finances are all about. he is absolutely dead wrong. this is a major crisis. if the united states were to default, it is a default crisis of unknown proportions, because never in the history of this country has the united states not been able to pay. and, by the way, these are debts, these are obligations that are racked up by us in congress over the last century. so we are going to pay our debts, unle
and that's why we're $17 trillion in debt. and i would dispel the rumor that is going around that you hear on every newscast that if we don't raise the debt ceiling, we will default on our debt. we won't. we'll continue to pay our interest. we'll continue to redeem bonds. and we'll issue new bonds to replace those. so that -- it's not entirely accurate. >> what's your reaction to that, congressman? >> well, i think he ought to just get in his car and drive up to the sage of omaha...
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Sep 13, 2013
09/13
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you have to pass a clean debt ceiling or else. republicans blinked. the deal they got was that they raised the debt ceiling enough to cover through most of this year and the concession was that the democratic senate had to pass a budget. it didn't have to become law or reconciled with the house budget, it was a purely symbolic concession that republicans got because they knew they couldn't get more than that. i expect a similar outcome this time. >> similar outcome, you think, dafna? >> absolutely, yes. they're not going to have a deal to delay health care for a year. >> congressman rangel, dafna, josh, thank you all for coming in. have a great weekend. >>> and i want to make one note. when we spoke with new jersey congressman frank pallone a short time ago, we said that he represented the seaside community. he does represent several jersey shore towns just north of seaside in addition to most of monmouth and middlesex counties. >>> one more news note. nasa's voyager spacecraft isn't just out of this world, it's out of this solar system. it's the firs
you have to pass a clean debt ceiling or else. republicans blinked. the deal they got was that they raised the debt ceiling enough to cover through most of this year and the concession was that the democratic senate had to pass a budget. it didn't have to become law or reconciled with the house budget, it was a purely symbolic concession that republicans got because they knew they couldn't get more than that. i expect a similar outcome this time. >> similar outcome, you think, dafna?...
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Oct 6, 2013
10/13
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ignore the debt ceiling and pay our bills. mint a $1 trillion coin. or get republicans on board. i think the last one is the hardest. talk to me about what the president's options are, michael. >> this would all make the founding fathers' wig hair stand on end. these are the kinds of issues that they were grappling with in trying to create a strong effective government that could pay its bills. those were the issues that were around at the time of the american revolution and the french revolution and throughout our country's history. the president has -- is right in saying we've had government shutdowns before, but we've never really had anything close to the kind of default that we're talking about. so what powers does he have? well, there are strong arguments to be made that he has the power to do a variety of ways of doing this unilaterally. none of it is a clear case. so the 14th amendment says that the debt of the united states shall not be questioned. there's only one supreme court case that's ever really looked at that. it seems to say that -- that you don't want to not be
ignore the debt ceiling and pay our bills. mint a $1 trillion coin. or get republicans on board. i think the last one is the hardest. talk to me about what the president's options are, michael. >> this would all make the founding fathers' wig hair stand on end. these are the kinds of issues that they were grappling with in trying to create a strong effective government that could pay its bills. those were the issues that were around at the time of the american revolution and the french...
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Oct 8, 2013
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debt that's growing increasingly concerned and more vocal over the american debt ceiling crisis. for his part, kerry attempted to quell those fears and apologized to american embassy workers in bali who are feeling the squeeze of the government shutdown. and coming up, the president spoke this afternoon. up next, speaker john boehner. we'll bring that to you live, straight ahead. [ male announcer ] this is claira. to prove to you that aleve is the better choice for her, she's agreed to give it up. that's today? [ male announcer ] we'll be with her all day to see how it goes. [ claira ] after the deliveries, i was okay. now the ciabatta is done and the pain is starting again. more pills? seriously? seriously. [ groans ] all these stops to take more pills can be a pain. can i get my aleve back? ♪ for my pain, i want my aleve. [ male announcer ] look for the easy-open red arthritis cap. >>> we're awaiting a statement from house speaker john boehner any moment now. and here he comes. here he is. >> a pleasant conversation. although i have to say, i was disappointed that the preside
debt that's growing increasingly concerned and more vocal over the american debt ceiling crisis. for his part, kerry attempted to quell those fears and apologized to american embassy workers in bali who are feeling the squeeze of the government shutdown. and coming up, the president spoke this afternoon. up next, speaker john boehner. we'll bring that to you live, straight ahead. [ male announcer ] this is claira. to prove to you that aleve is the better choice for her, she's agreed to give it...
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Oct 4, 2013
10/13
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the debt ceiling should be a no-brainer. because the consequences if you look at the chart of what happens if our credit rating is degraded at all, it costs trillions of dollars in extra cost of money. so that's just stupid among other things. but to reopen the government we do have a budget dispute going on here. >> when your party's willing -- look, if you stop threatening the debt ceiling this whole game is over because the debt ceiling is the key to everything. but the thing is the guy setting the table for you guys now, ted cruz of texas, is talking about the debt ceiling. >> well, listen, ted cruz, you know, i compared him to a trained monkey the other day and i got a lot of phone calls from monkeys that were pissed off that i made that comparison. listen, he is not calling the tune. house republicans, 35 of them, have sort of rallied around him. but i will tell you that the hastert rule that always gets misinterpret -- it's the majority of the majority. boehner can move forward if there's 233 rends with 120 republican
the debt ceiling should be a no-brainer. because the consequences if you look at the chart of what happens if our credit rating is degraded at all, it costs trillions of dollars in extra cost of money. so that's just stupid among other things. but to reopen the government we do have a budget dispute going on here. >> when your party's willing -- look, if you stop threatening the debt ceiling this whole game is over because the debt ceiling is the key to everything. but the thing is the...
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Oct 14, 2013
10/13
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a trillion dollar coin could be minted to pay down the debt as well as debt ceilings being completely outlawed. in 1917 it was created to limit the president. other major economies like germany and japan don't even have one. here at home, if we miss thursday's deadline, we'll start missing due bills somewhere between october 18th and november 5th. >>> former arizona congresswoman gabrielle giffords appeared at a new york gun show this weekend praising its voluntary background check system. the show required all gun buyers to be cleared by the background check system before buying any firearms. you might remember giffords was shot in the head at a meet and greet event in arizona in 2011. at this weekend's show she called for a cooperative effort to stop gun violence. >> now is the time to come together. be responsible. democrats or republicans, everyone, we must not stop fighting. fight, fight, fight! be bold, be courageous. the nation is counting on you. (knochello? hey, i notice your car is not in the driveway. yeah. it's in the shop. it's going to cost me an arm and a leg. that's hi
a trillion dollar coin could be minted to pay down the debt as well as debt ceilings being completely outlawed. in 1917 it was created to limit the president. other major economies like germany and japan don't even have one. here at home, if we miss thursday's deadline, we'll start missing due bills somewhere between october 18th and november 5th. >>> former arizona congresswoman gabrielle giffords appeared at a new york gun show this weekend praising its voluntary background check...
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Sep 27, 2013
09/13
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. >>> this autumn, the congress has faced the unhappy task of raising the debt ceiling to over $2 trillion. with only a few days left before that deadline, congress must realize that by failing to act, they're entering very dangerous troy. never before in our history has the federal government failed to honor its financial obligations. to fail to do so now would be an outrage. and the congress must understand this and bear full responsibility. >> i have to say, no congress before this one has ever, ever, in history, been irresponsible enough to threaten default. to threaten an economic shutdown, to suggest america not pay its bills, just to try to blackmail a president into giving them some concessions on issues that have nothing to do with the budget. i mean, this is the united states of america. we're not a deadbeat nation. and that's why i will not negotiate on anything when it comes to the full faith and credit of the united states of america. >> president obama speaking today at a community college in maryland. ronald reagan saying the same thing in 1985. joining us, steve kornacki, h
. >>> this autumn, the congress has faced the unhappy task of raising the debt ceiling to over $2 trillion. with only a few days left before that deadline, congress must realize that by failing to act, they're entering very dangerous troy. never before in our history has the federal government failed to honor its financial obligations. to fail to do so now would be an outrage. and the congress must understand this and bear full responsibility. >> i have to say, no congress before...
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Oct 15, 2013
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the reality is there is no magic fix that would make breaching the debt ceiling smooth, and anyone who claims otherwise is selling you something you should not buy. joining me now is steve rattner, former treasury secretary to geithner. with michael bloomberg assets. all right, treasury has already been taking what's called extraordinary measures, right? >> correct. >> for months. is there anything they can do if we -- i mean, if we go over on wednesday, if you're sitting there as jack lew and the civil servants who have to run this payment system, what do you do? i mean, what do you do on thursday morning if a debt ceiling hasn't been reached? >> i think first thing to know is wednesday's a very important day. it's the last day they can borrow using these so-called extraordinary measures, but it's not the day we actually default. treasury will have about $30 billion of cash on hand. more cash comes in every day. as you point out, cash goes out every day. and probably somewhere between october 23rd and november 1st is when we literally won't have the money to pay the next day's bills.
the reality is there is no magic fix that would make breaching the debt ceiling smooth, and anyone who claims otherwise is selling you something you should not buy. joining me now is steve rattner, former treasury secretary to geithner. with michael bloomberg assets. all right, treasury has already been taking what's called extraordinary measures, right? >> correct. >> for months. is there anything they can do if we -- i mean, if we go over on wednesday, if you're sitting there as...
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Oct 11, 2013
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we're already recovering from that and go into the august 2011 debate about the debt ceiling and fast forward and look to today, it's not going to be pretty by the way, it doesn't matter if it's 20%, 10%, 2%, the politicians are screwing with our retirement and it's not okay. >> jonathan, take a look at this chart from the report you were writing about which shows the bulk of people's retirement savings in equity funds, that big blue chunk. huge amount of money in the stock market. what does that tell us basically about what people have at risk here? >> well, it shows that they have a lot at risk. most people -- most ip investors in the united states are involved in money markets and they are involved in the stock market and involved in bonds. but it's the stock market that people pay attention to because they can see what it does, day in and day out. yesterday everyone was euphoric. but we could all be crying in our soup by a week from today if the united states actually doesn't raise its debt ceiling. that's when people see the air kme completely go out of their retirement savings w
we're already recovering from that and go into the august 2011 debate about the debt ceiling and fast forward and look to today, it's not going to be pretty by the way, it doesn't matter if it's 20%, 10%, 2%, the politicians are screwing with our retirement and it's not okay. >> jonathan, take a look at this chart from the report you were writing about which shows the bulk of people's retirement savings in equity funds, that big blue chunk. huge amount of money in the stock market. what...
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Sep 27, 2013
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take a look. >> the unhappy task of raising the debt ceiling to over 2 trillion $. congress must realize by failing to act, they are entering dangerous territory. never before in our history has the federal government failed to honor its financial obligations. to fail to do so now would be an outrage. and congress must understand this and bear full responsibility. >> gene, help me understand. what's going on? >> what's going on is that frankly republicans have dug themselves a hole and they keep digging. they are dug in on the issue of funding the government and they are dug in on the issue of the debt ceiling and want the president to gut or delay the signature piece of legislative accomplishment and he's not going to do that. >> we have this list of gibbs' incredible demands. >> i thought everything sounded fine. >> sit back and let the show go on. >> i think so. it's a list of demands that is fairly negotiable my sense is on their part. i think the hardest thing is how do you begin to unwind this? you have a few days before the government shut down. the biggest t
take a look. >> the unhappy task of raising the debt ceiling to over 2 trillion $. congress must realize by failing to act, they are entering dangerous territory. never before in our history has the federal government failed to honor its financial obligations. to fail to do so now would be an outrage. and congress must understand this and bear full responsibility. >> gene, help me understand. what's going on? >> what's going on is that frankly republicans have dug themselves a...
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Oct 13, 2013
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. >> the debt ceiling is not the problem, bob. it's the fact they've been spending about a trillion dollars more that they're taking in. the rewrality is october 17th ia date that will not have a major impact. >> if there is that degree of disruption, that lack of certainty, that lack of trust in the u.s. signature, it would mean massive disruption the world over. and we would be at risk of tipping yet again into recession. >> now, paula, so he sort of represents these sort of debt deniers. i think when you have someone of christine lagarde's status saying, yes, this will have a major global impact. and we know from the last time in 2011 when we came even just up to the brink of this it cost millions of dollars in our economy. it cost us our rating because of a lack of confidence. what do you see happening this week with regard to the markets, in terms of their reaction? >> well, so far the market reaction has been really minuscule. we saw on friday when the market thought there was a deal, that the market rose almost 2% across th
. >> the debt ceiling is not the problem, bob. it's the fact they've been spending about a trillion dollars more that they're taking in. the rewrality is october 17th ia date that will not have a major impact. >> if there is that degree of disruption, that lack of certainty, that lack of trust in the u.s. signature, it would mean massive disruption the world over. and we would be at risk of tipping yet again into recession. >> now, paula, so he sort of represents these sort of...
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Jan 10, 2013
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with congress showing little progress on next month's debt ceiling deadline, a far-fetched solution is getting more mainstream. we're talking about the $1 trillion coin. supporters including some lawmakers and nobel laureate paul krugman say the treasury department has the power to mint the supercoin which in turn would be used to raise the debt ceiling. and white house press secretary jay carney added some fuel to the fire when he refused to rule it out. >> do you believe you have a power to mint -- >> there is no plan "b." there is no backup plan. there is congress' responsibility to pay the bills of the united states. >> that's a little evasive in your answer. but i say -- are you narrowing the lead -- are you trying to leave room or not? >> there's no substitute for congress extending the borrowing authority of the united states. >> do you believe this is an option, and viable? >> i think there's the only option there. there is no backup plan. the only option is for congress to do its job. >> let's bring in nbc analyst and former communications editor karen finney. and also chip sa
with congress showing little progress on next month's debt ceiling deadline, a far-fetched solution is getting more mainstream. we're talking about the $1 trillion coin. supporters including some lawmakers and nobel laureate paul krugman say the treasury department has the power to mint the supercoin which in turn would be used to raise the debt ceiling. and white house press secretary jay carney added some fuel to the fire when he refused to rule it out. >> do you believe you have a...
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Feb 18, 2013
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before we added another $6 trillion over the past four years to the national debt. so the president's kicked the can himself down the road four years ago. remember when the president voted against raising the debt ceiling in 2006? he talked about the staggering deficits and the staggering debt. that was six, seven years ago. so the president's now going to wait two or three more years? i mean, i think you're right. i think that's what he's doing, but how long do we push that out before we start worrying about -- >> that lack of continuity you can find on both sides, which is why they have to do it together. i don't know how else. >> exactly. and paul wrote columns back in 2002, 2003 worrying about the deficit when george w. bush was in the white house, saying we couldn't afford the iraq war because the deficits were just too high. we couldn't afford tax cuts because the deficits were just going to be too high. >> different paul krugman. >> different president, actually. different party. >> all right. you can get all of our must-read opinion pages on our website. whi
before we added another $6 trillion over the past four years to the national debt. so the president's kicked the can himself down the road four years ago. remember when the president voted against raising the debt ceiling in 2006? he talked about the staggering deficits and the staggering debt. that was six, seven years ago. so the president's now going to wait two or three more years? i mean, i think you're right. i think that's what he's doing, but how long do we push that out before we start...